Mike Johnson, Holding Vigil For Police, Hasn’t Bothered With Plaque Honoring Jan. 6 Officers

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will host a vigil Tuesday for police who have died in the line of duty, but a simple plaque honoring officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is apparently too much.

Two years ago , Congress passed a law requiring lawmakers to compile a list of names of the police officers who fought Donald Trump’s mob in order to put them on a plaque to be displayed on the west front of the Capitol building, with a deadline of March 2023. More than a year after the deadline, there’s no plaque.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who served on the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack, complained about the missing memorial in a letter to Johnson last week.

“It is deeply troubling that this memorial has not been installed, particularly considering the significance of honoring those who faced violence and assault while safeguarding our Capitol,” Lofgren wrote.

A spokesperson for Johnson told NBC News this week that his office is working with the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the grounds, “to get the plaque mounted,” without providing details. A Johnson spokesperson didn’t respond to HuffPost’s request for more information.

Tuesday evening’s vigil will feature remarks by Johnson as well as from family members of fallen police officers, according to a press release, as part of official Washington’s annual commemoration of National Police Week. Thousands of police officers typically travel to Washington to mark the occasion.

The plaque may be a small thing, an obscure provision buried in a thousand-page government funding bill. But it’s also a symbol of the Republican Party’s epic quest to downplay, excuse or ignore Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election,